Gold is increasingly coming into the limelight because of fears about inflation ballooning to unsustainable levels and the lack of confidence in the Federal Reserve, a position pushed by high-profile lawmakers such as presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, considered by many to be the father of the Tea Party movement. Some argue that reverting to a gold standard would restrain spending and keep the central bank's power in check.

What's surprising, experts say, is that the momentum is building at the state level, not the national level, which can in part be attributed to the 2010 midterm election that turned many state legislatures red.

Resurrecting the gold standard is an issue that's close to the heart of many Tea Party groups, which played a crucial role in bringing Republicans to power, both at the state and federal level.

"I think they're sending a message that reflects the opinion of the people that elected them," said Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr., a former vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. "By doing it at the state level, it's kind of trying to push, force the federal government to pay attention to this. Let's call it a symbolic act of sending a message."